Dante's Florence: A Walk Through the Poet's City
Updated: Oct 25
Updated October 2026
Dante was born in Florence in 1265, fell in love here and was exiled in 1302, never to return. His footprints are all over the old center, and this walk follows them in an hour or two.
This route links the places tied to his life, his love for Beatrice and his memory. For the wider story of the era that followed him, see my Renaissance Florence guide.
The walk at a glance
Museo Casa di Dante
Santa Margherita de' Cerchi, "Dante's church"
The Badia Fiorentina
Dante's verses on the city walls
The Baptistery of San Giovanni
Dante's monument and cenotaph at Santa Croce
1. Museo Casa di Dante
The museum on Via Santa Margherita stands in the area where the Alighieri family lived. The building is a reconstruction, but the exhibits explain medieval Florence, Dante's life, his exile and the Divine Comedy, in Italian and English.
From April to October it is open daily. From November to March it is open Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays. It is closed on 24 and 25 December. Individual visitors buy tickets at the door, no booking needed.
2. Santa Margherita de' Cerchi
A few steps away is this tiny, dim church, where tradition says Dante first saw Beatrice Portinari and later married Gemma Donati. Visitors leave handwritten notes to Beatrice by the door, asking for help in love. The last time I passed, I stopped to read a few. It is one of the sweetest corners of Florence.
3. The Badia Fiorentina
The old Benedictine abbey across Via del Proconsolo has a bell tower that Dante would have heard every day. Look inside for Filippino Lippi's painting of the Virgin appearing to Saint Bernard.
4. Dante's verses on the walls
As you walk, look up. Around the center, white marble plaques carry lines from the Divine Comedy, placed where the verses mention a family, a street or a place. There are more than thirty. Hunting for them is a great way to slow down, and I still find new ones.
5. The Baptistery
Dante was baptized here and called it "il mio bel San Giovanni," my beautiful San Giovanni. The mosaic Last Judgment in the dome would have shaped his own images of heaven and hell.
6. Santa Croce
Finish at Piazza Santa Croce, where a large statue of Dante stands beside the basilica. Inside is his cenotaph, an empty tomb. His body remains in Ravenna, where he died in 1321. For more on the basilica, see my guide to Santa Croce.
Keep exploring
Dante's Florence was a city of guilds and craftsmen, including the goldsmiths who later settled on the bridge. Read about the goldsmiths of the Ponte Vecchio. For the artists who came after him, see my guide to Florence's Renaissance masters, and for the full timeline read my Florence history timeline.
Where to stay
This walk ends in Santa Croce, a lively area full of trattorie. See where to stay near Santa Croce.
Who was Dante, in one minute
Dante wrote the Divine Comedy, a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, in the Tuscan dialect of Florence instead of Latin. That choice helped make Florentine the basis of modern Italian, which is why he is called the father of the Italian language.
He also put his enemies in Hell, by name, which tells you a lot about the politics of his city. Exiled in 1302 by the rival faction, he spent the rest of his life wandering northern Italy and died in Ravenna in 1321.
Beatrice
Dante said he first saw Beatrice Portinari when they were both about nine years old. She married another man and died young, at twenty-four, but she became his guide through Paradise in the Comedy.
Her family lived near the Casa di Dante, and tradition says she is buried in Santa Margherita de' Cerchi, where people still leave letters to her asking for help in love. It is one of the most touching small corners of Florence.
Dante in the Duomo
Inside the cathedral, on the left wall, look for Domenico di Michelino's 1465 painting of Dante holding the Comedy, with Florence and its new dome on one side and the mountain of Purgatory on the other. The city ordered a painted honor for the poet it had exiled. It is free to see with cathedral entry.
Reading Dante before you go
You do not need to read the whole Comedy. Start with the first cantos of the Inferno in a good translation, then Paradiso's last canto, which ends with "the love that moves the sun and the other stars." Read a few lines at Santa Croce, in front of his statue, and the walk will mean much more.
Dante's Florence today
Florence still marks Dante's life. Readings of the Comedy are held in the city, and the Società Dantesca Italiana keeps his work alive.
In 2021, the 700th anniversary of his death, the city formally revisited his exile, and the streets around Via Dante Alighieri are full of reminders. For the art that came after him, read my Renaissance masters guide and Santa Croce guide.
Exile and the long road home
Dante was not only a poet; he was a politician. In 1300 he served as one of the priors, the city's governing council, at a time when Florence was split between two Guelph factions, the Whites and the Blacks.
When the Blacks took power with the support of Pope Boniface VIII, Dante, a White, was sentenced in 1302 to exile and later condemned to death if he returned.
He never saw Florence again. He wrote the Divine Comedy during his wandering years in Verona, Lunigiana and finally Ravenna, where he died in 1321. Florence asked for his remains many times, but Ravenna has always refused.
That is why the grand monument in Santa Croce is empty, a cenotaph built in 1829, and why a small lamp in Ravenna burns with oil sent every year by Florence.
The language he gave Italy
Dante chose to write the Comedy not in Latin but in the Florentine vernacular, the everyday language of his city. His choice, followed by Petrarch and Boccaccio, made Tuscan the basis of modern Italian.
When you hear Italians speak today, you are hearing a language shaped in large part by Dante. Many common phrases come from his verses, and Italian schoolchildren still memorize whole cantos.
The statue in Piazza Santa Croce
The large marble statue of Dante on the left of the basilica's steps was unveiled in 1865, the six hundredth anniversary of his birth, when Florence was about to become the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy.
Dante, stern and wrapped in his cloak, became a symbol of the unified nation. It was moved from the center of the piazza to its current spot in 1968.
Dantedì and the readings
Since 2020, Italy has celebrated Dantedì, Dante Day, on 25 March, the date scholars associate with the start of the journey in the Comedy. Florence marks it with readings, lectures and events.
Throughout the year, public readings of the Comedy, the Lectura Dantis, take place in churches and halls such as Orsanmichele, a tradition that goes back to Boccaccio, who gave the first public lectures on Dante in 1373.
A Dante dinner
Near the Casa di Dante, the old streets of the medieval center still feel close to his world. I like to end a Dante walk with dinner at a trattoria in the area and a glass of Chianti, reading a canto aloud. It brings the poet home.
FAQ
Is the Casa di Dante really Dante's house?
No. It is an early 20th-century reconstruction near where his family lived. The museum is still the best introduction to his life.
Where is Dante buried?
In Ravenna. The tomb in Santa Croce is empty.
How long does the walk take?
About an hour without the museum, two hours with it.
Why is Dante important to Florence?
He was born here, wrote the Divine Comedy in Florentine and shaped the Italian language, even though the city exiled him.
Where did Dante meet Beatrice?
Tradition places it near his home and the church of Santa Margherita de' Cerchi.
About the author
I'm Jason GaNung, and I write every guide on Florence Life. I have spent extensive time in Florence over many trips, and I have stayed in many of the hotels and villas I cover, so my picks come from my own stays, not press releases. More about me.
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